Animal fecal matter and other equally noxious forms of litter pose a nuisance in modern urban areas. The need to dispose of such materials is increasing along with the apparent rise in the number of pets currently inhabiting urban areas. The containment and disposal of these offensive materials is a matter commonly considered by public authorities and other concerned groups and individuals.
Although many devices have heretofore been proposed, (examples, U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,446,525, 3,718,358, 4,188,055, 4,200,319), some of these devices have utilized relatively complicated designs which are economically unattractive. Other devices which have been proposed require the user to operate them with two hands thereby limiting control of any accompnaying pets. Some of the devices proposed by the prior art disclose designs which by their very nature require the use of significant quantities of materials for construction. Such overuse of materials usually corresponds to significant costs of manufacture. Furthermore, where such designs result in bulky products, the volume of disposable matter for user handling, and ultimately, for municipal disposal is unduly large. Even though the disposable portions of some devices may be constructed from collapsable or compressible materials, it is likely that most users would consider it unpleasant to compress by hand such materials in view of their contents.
The operation of such a device should also allow the user to contain the litter without incurring accidental finger contact. It is also preferred to allow the user to operate the device without necessitating a bending down to ground level in order to effectuate such a procedure.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a device for the containment and disposal of animal feces which allows the user to dispose of the animal fecal matter in a sanitary manner.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide such a device which can be manufactured and operated with relative ease.
It is yet a further object to provide a device which is compact in size by design thereby minimizing material requirements and costs.
Further and other objects of the present invention will become apparent upon perusal of the specifications and drawings herewith included. The preceding objects are attained by a device for picking-up animal feces comprising: a first flexibly resilient, open-mesh element formed from a sheet shaped to present a substantially part cylindrical surface, such surface adapted to be pressed into the feces and to retain the same in the mesh openings; a second imperforate shielding element folded over the open-mesh element, such shielding element having free edges; a stiffening member having an edge extending toward but not touching the inner surface of said substantially part cylindrical surface; fastening means securing the first and second elements together and compressing that part of the imperforate shielding element remote from the part cylindrical surface into a substantially planar handle portion and further securing the said stiffening member within the said planar handle member; and the said free edges defining a surface situated between the said fastening means and a plane lying at a tangent to the part cylindrical surface.